Amazon is releasing an Echo Dot Kids Edition with parental controls

Amazon is releasing a kid-friendly Echo Dot in a couple of weeks for $79.99. That’s $30 more than the original, but has new Amazon FreeTime content that’s tailored for kids. Parents will also get more control over what content their kids are exposed to. The hardware is virtually identical to the original, but now comes with colorful red, blue or green cases.

The new Echo Dot has a 2-year warranty and comes with one year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. This gives kids access to virtually unlimited entertainment and educational content like ad-free radio stations (Radio Disney, Nick Radio and Kids Hits), over 300 Audible books and more. After one year, the subscription rate will be just $2.99 per month. And FreeTime Unlimited will work across multiple devices, so books, games, movies and more can be enjoyed on a Fire Tablet, Kindle or Android device. Available content comes from major brands like Disney, Nickelodeon, PBS, Amazon Originals, National Geographic, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros.

With a younger audience in mind, Alexa can tell jokes, answer questions, read stories and more. Parents will have an online Parent Dashboard so they can see their kids’ activity, set daily time limits, filter potentially explicit songs and prevent accidental shopping.

The kids edition can connect to other Echo devices around the house for use as an intercom. You can call kids for dinner, tell them it’s time for bed and more, all without raising your voice. Drop In will instantly connect to another Echo device or you can simply connect to all Echo devices at once.

He was born and raised in Virginia, but escaped to Southern CA. Started out as a BlackBerry addict until he bought HTC’s Droid Eris and never looked back. He's owned dozens of Android devices and can rarely settle on a daily driver for more than a few months. He's currently using a Galaxy S8 and BlackBerry KEYone. He rides motorcycles for fun and would live on the beach if it was legal. Marketing and freelance pr help keep the lights on.